Jak rozumieć medyczną klauzulę sumienia?
How to understand the medical conscience clause?

Summary/Abstract: The article that follows relates to an online debate dedicated to the topic: “What medical services can be denied on the basis of moral considerations?”, carried out in November 2012 on the website of the Polish Bioethics Society. The article deals with the medical conscience clause (MCC), a norm which entitles a healthcare provider, under certain circumstances, to deny medical services which are accepted by law but infringe upon his/her conscience. It raises three main issues regarding its proper understanding: (I) How to understand legally accepted medical services in the context of the MCC? (II) How to understand conscience itself and medical services infringing upon conscience in the context of the MCC? (III) How to understand the conditions which must be met by a healthcare provider who denies a given service, so as to justify the denial by appealing to the MCC (in particular, the conditions which consist of: providing the relevant information, indicating other possibilities, notifying about the denial in advance)? (IV) What medical services cannot be denied by appealing to the MCC?

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